The present invention relates to a water-conducting domestic appliance, such as a dishwasher, for example, as well as to a method for operating a water-conducting domestic appliance.
It is a matter of interest to users of dishwashers that the items to be washed be in as dry a state as possible following termination of the washing process so that they can be immediately removed from the dishwasher and put away. For this reason conventional dishwashers provide, as the final stage of the wash program, a drying step in which the dishes are able to drain and dry. How effective this drying process is, depends to a considerable extent on the ventilation of the washing compartment. A door opening assistant or door opening module may therefore be provided in conventional dishwashers. Such a door opening module is described for example in DE 10 2012 207 836 A1.
When suitably actuated by a control unit, said door opening module opens the door automatically. For the advantageous drying process it is sufficient to open the door by a slight amount to create a small gap. In this case the lock of the door is released and the opening of the door is stopped by way of a spring-cable system as soon as the desired gap size has been reached. It may, however, happen that e.g. a broken cable is present, which would lead to the door dropping open in an uncontrolled manner. Since doors of dishwashers may have a considerable weight, there therefore exists a hazard potential for living beings present in the vicinity. The door opening assistant must therefore be provided with safeguards against malfunction for safety reasons.
DE 10 2011 050 914 A1 discloses a cable break sensor. In this case, should a malfunction be detected, the entire door opening assistant is overridden. The door therefore remains closed in this case and no means of assisting the drying of the washed items is provided. To restore the function, the dishwasher must then be inspected by a qualified person and the defective parts must be replaced, which may result in high costs.